Even Prime Minister Jean Chretien made light of it Monday. "I have a problem too when they have a name that you couldn't pronounce in front of the kids," he said.

By Monday afternoon, the name was changed to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, switching the two words to avoid the embarrassing acronym. The acronym now is a sanitized CRCA.

Conservative leader Joe Clark isn't challenging the new party's use of "Conservative" in its official title because he says voters won't be fooled by the Reform party using a different name.

"This is a party of smoke and mirrors. They're trying to persuade people they're something other than they are, and it just won't wash," Clark said on CBC Newsworld.

Reform leader Preston Manning says the Canadian Alliance's principles and platform have a broader appeal than those of Reform and Clark's Conservatives. He's aiming his message at fiscal and social conservative voters in every province.

The new alliance is proposing a single tax rate of 17 per cent, but Finance Minister Paul Martin attacked the idea as irresponsible Monday.

"That 17 (per cent) proposal would put our health care and education system in jeopardy or put us back into deficit," he said.

Corrections

This story has been updated from a previous version that said convention delegates formally named their new party the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party. In fact, "party" was not part of the official name.